Please sign a Letter for Immediate Release of the arrested UPP members including Rep. Lee Seok-Ki
- Please sign a Letter for Immediate Release of the arrested UPP members including Rep. Lee Seok-ki.
Dear Colleagues in international community,
We, Korean people especially the whole members of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), are in a crucial moment with regards to the political freedom.
The UPP’s 7 members including Rep. Lee Seok-ki were arrested by the National Intelligency Service (NIS) during the last September and are being under trial on the charge of conspiracy of insurgency. We strongly believe that the NIS and Park, Geun-hye administration fabricated charges in order to avoid unfavorable political situation to them.
The UPP is also under the severe threat of being dismissed because it is the one which has spearheaded the anti-war and peace campaign as well as the movement to dismantle the NIS that illegally intervened in the 2012 presidential election. Today, Korean people are worried about terror of a ‘witch hunt’ by the Park, Geun-hye administration that is attempting to reverse Korean society to the past military dictatorship led by the father of President Park Geun-hye in the 1970s.
The NIS failed to present substantive evidence to prove charges. The only evidence which was presented by the NIS for charges was recording tapes and transcript over what Lee, Seok-ki and other members discussed at a meeting. But a recording tape was not an original copy and there were 272 errors in the transcript that was written down to the copy recording by the NIS.
This insurrection conspiracy case on Lee, Seok-ki and other UPP members is representing the serious political situation suppressing basic human rights and Korean democracy.
Below is a sign-on letter addressed to the Suwon District Court for Rep. Lee Seok-ki and other members of the UPP in jail. In particular it requests the Court to release immediately arrested UPP members including Rep. Lee Seok-ki.
If you wish to sign-on to the letter please send an email to petition.kr@gmail.com by 31th December 2013 with the name of your organisation, country and contact details. If you have any question or comment to the sign-on letter, please don't hesitate to be in touch with us.
With best regards,
Task Force against ‘Conspiracy of an Insurrection’ fabricated by NIS and Political Repression
http://gongjak.org
petition.kr@gmail.com
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Petition
Honoroble Kim Jong-woon
We, the undersigned, sincerely wish for South Korea to advance as a democratic society that advocates human rights. We admire that South Korea put an end to military dictatorship through decades of struggle for democracy. It is an OECD member country and an economic powerhouse that ranks among the top ten largest economies. However, the latest news from Korea raised many concerns.
As disclosures of the National Intelligence Service's (NIS) political interference in the last presidential election have had public and people ask for dissolution of the NIS and accountability of President Park Geun-hye, the NIS raided and arrested members of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), including Representative Lee Seok-ki, on charges of conspiring a rebellion.
We are shocked to learn that the so-called evidence disclosed by the NIS was gathered through three years of secret surveillance and recordings. To detain the UPP members based on what Representative Lee Seok-ki told in his speech or what the UPP members said in their discussion is to suppress the freedom of thought and speech. If South Korea were a truly democratic society, differences in thought should be resolved through discussions ; it is gravely unfortunate that the government instead chose to put seven people behind bars and now faces accusations of human rights violation and liberty restriction.
We, the undersigned, are especially concerned that the so-called Lee Seok-ki conspiracy for rebellion case has all the trappings of political repression and retaliation by the South Korean government against its political opposition. After detaining and indicting seven people, even before the start of the first trial, the South Korean government petitioned for the dissolution of the Unified Progressive Party. As a progressive party, the Unified Progressive Party represents the powerless and fights for the working people. The New York Times, in an article assessed that the South Korean government's petition to dissolve the Unified Progressive Party is political retaliation against the former UPP presidential candidate who publicly criticized Park Geun-hye at the national TV debate during the last presidential election. The government's decision to eliminate an entire political party which advance or fade away through the chocie of citizens is reminiscent of fascism.
South Korea has a history of cracking down on political opposition through its intelligence agency during the military dictatorship era. The injustice cases with those who were imprisoned or executed on charges of conspiracy for rebellion has been exposed through retrials that overturned the original verdicts 30 years later. The most well-known case is the so-called Kim Dae-jung conspiracy for rebellion case. We, the undersigned, are gravely concerned about South Korea's return to the past where the intelligence agency took the lead in cracking down on political opposition forces.
Honorable Kim Jong-woon, We believe that South Korea's democracy will continue to advance because that is the wish of the people and many are working tirelessly to defend democracy. The judiciary's retrial and overturn of wrong verdicts of the past was a valorous act that greatly contributed to the advance of democracy in South Korea.
The seven people currently detained, including Rep. Lee Seok-ki, were subjected to a sensationalized public trial by a media which didn't even fact-check the information provided to them by the intelligence agency, and have suffered as a result serious emotional and material damage. Their families are also accused of being communists and spies and are the targets of a witch hunt.
We, the undersigned, wish for those who are detained to return to the arms of their families and friends. We wish for an end to the intelligence agency's crackdown on political opposition. We do not wish for the regression of South Korea's democracy and human rights. We await your just and wise judgment.
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歎願書
尊敬する裁判長
私は韓國の民主主義が發展し、韓國が人權を擁護する社會として歩み続けることを心から願う者です。韓國は民主化運動により、軍事獨裁時代の幕がおりました。OECD會員國であり、世界の10位圈にはいる經濟大國です。しかし最近の韓國のニュースには、憂慮を感じずにはいられません。
韓國の國家情報院が大統領選擧に介入した事實が知られるようになると、‘國情院解體’と‘朴槿惠大統領の責任’を要求する民衆の声が高まりました。すると國家情報院は、統合進步黨の李石基議員をはじめとする統合進步黨の關係者たちを、內亂を陰謀したとして搜索し、逮捕しました。
國家情報院が明らかにした內亂陰謀の證據が、3年間秘密裏に査察して錄音したものだと知って衝擊を受けました。李石基議員の講演内容と、参加した人たちの討論中の発言を根據に拘束するのは、思想と言論の自由を拘束することにほかなりません。民主主義が發展してきた韓國でならば、討論を通じて解決できるにもかかわらず、7人を監獄に閉じ込め、人權侵害、自由の拘束という批判に直面しているのです。残念極まりないことです。
私は李石基議員の內亂陰謀事件が、韓國政府の政治的反對勢力に対する政治彈壓、政治報復の性格が強いことに注目しています。7人を拘束起訴した後、初公判が開かれる前に、韓國政府は統合進步黨の解散を請求しました。統合進步黨は韓國の進步的な政黨として、弱者を代辯し働く人々のための政治活動を行っています。ニューヨークタイムスは韓國政府の進步黨解散請求が、去年の大統領選挙で統合進步黨候補が朴槿惠候補を批判したことに対する、政治報復だと報道しました。国民の選択を無視し、政府が解散に乗り出す様子はファシズムの姿そのものです。
韓國は軍事獨裁時代に、情報機關を通じて政治的反對者を彈壓した歷史があります。內亂陰謀を図ったとして拘束されたり、死刑にされた人たちは、30年後に再審を通じて無罪が明らかになりました。代表的な例が金大中內亂陰謀事件です。韓國社會が過去に戻り、情報機關が政治的反對者を彈壓することに深刻な憂慮を禁じえません。
尊敬する裁判長。
韓國の民主主義は發展し続けていくことでしょう。多くの人々が望むところであり、民主主義を守るために努力しているからです。過去の誤った判決を再審し正してきた司法府の姿は、正義をめざす勇氣ある努力として、韓國の民主主義發展に大きく寄與したと思います。
現在拘束されている李石基議員をはじめとする7人は、マスコミが情報機關の提供した搜査內容を、事實確認もしないまま刺戟的に報道したことにより、世論裁判にさらされました。その精神的、物質的な苦痛は深刻です。彼らの家族もまた、アカ、スパイ、と言われ、魔女狩り式攻擊を受けています。
私は拘束された人たちが、家族と同僚の懐に戻ってくることを願います。情報機關が政治的反對者を彈壓する行爲が、中斷されることを願います。韓國の民主主義と人權擁護の後退が、憂慮に終わることを願います。裁判長の正義にみちた英断を切に願います。
歎願人の氏名
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